


Questioning

by SamanthaGirlScout



Category: Ghost Hunt
Genre: Fluff, Ghost Hunt Exchange, M/M, Manga Spoilers, Post Manga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 15:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20392036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamanthaGirlScout/pseuds/SamanthaGirlScout
Summary: Yasuhara's grandmother has been sick for a while. So, when she falls and then needs a place to stay while she recovers, it doesn't surprise him when his mother offers for her to stay. Nor when everyone in the family is assigned a time to stay home.When he goes to tell Naru about needing to take a break from working, he expects a nod of understanding and then being sent on his way to find another part time. It surprises him when his boss comes up with a solution that is far more helpful to Yasuhara than SPR as a whole.He isn't sure exactly what's spurred his boss’ benevolence but he certainly isn’t going to question it.





	1. Chapter 1

“Hi, Boss,” Yasuhara said as he walked into the office, a bright smile on his face as he waved at Mai. “How are things going today?”

“Oh, busy as always,” Mai said with a roll of her eyes as she gestured to the pile of paperwork on her desk that was carefully organized to hide her homework. “What are you doing here? Isn’t today your day off?”

“Can’t I come in just to say hello to my favorite people?”

“Last I heard your days off were ‘treasures that you wouldn’t squander if your life depended on it’. Unless you decided to give up your partying ways…”

“Hey! I’ll have you know I’m a great college student. I only go to parties once in a while and every other moment I have is devoted to homework.”

Mai hummed. “And I’m sure your latest post about, what was it, the wonders of Shots Sat—”

Yasuhara promptly covered Mai’s mouth as he looked around the office to see if anyone had heard her. As per usual, neither Lin nor Naru were anywhere to be seen in the main area, but there was no telling who was listening in.

“Now, now, now. No need to talk about that kind of stuff while we’re at the office. Wouldn’t want anyone to get the idea that I’m anything but a hard worker.”

Mai pried his hand off of her mouth. “You do realize that everyone follows you right? Like Naru probably doesn’t really pay much attention, but I’m pretty sure that everyone has seen what you do on the weekends.”

“Yeah, well, there’s no reason to spur anyone stalking more than they already do.” Yasuhara shook his head. “Besides, don’t act like I’m the only one who will be posting loads of pictures this weekend.”

Mai squeaked at the wink Yasuhara sent her way.

“What on earth do you mean by that?”

“Oh, I don’t know, I’m just pretty sure that I remember you talking about how your class trip is this weekend.”

“And?”

“And, as your elder, I remember how raucous my own class trip was! It seems just like yesterday that I and the other young lads snuck off to go find—”

“You say that like you didn’t go on your class trip just last year! And, b-besides! I’d never do anything as scandalous as what you’re pretending that you did.”

“Pretending? I’ll have you know that my compatriots and I barely returned to the onsen that we were staying at unscathed. If we had returned a moment later, then surely I would not be standing here today.”

“Yeah, sure, sure.” Mai looked up at the wall clock and gasped. “Oh no! I promised Naru and Lin I’d make tea nearly half an hour ago!”

Before Yasuhara could say another word, Mai rushed to the office’s kitchenette. It was a wonder she didn’t knock something over in her rush, there were certainly enough knick knacks on the table that she bumped into on the way, but somehow everything miraculously stayed on the table. Yasuhara laughed to himself as he followed his friend at a much more relaxed pace.

“Do you want any, Yasu?”

“If you wouldn’t mind, Boss.”

Mai stuck out her tongue. “You know I’m not your boss.”

“Perhaps, but you still out-rank me at work.”

A blush sent Mai scouring the cupboards for various tea bags.

“I thought we talked about not worrying about that. Besides we’re equal in the office, so don’t start with me.”

“I personally don’t think that you give yourself credit, but whatever you say Boss.”

Mai sent him a glare as the tea kettle started whistling. She went about the process of brewing the tea and, in the meantime a comfortable silence settled over them. Yasuhara watched, contentedly, as his friend went about brewing the tea in the way that each of them liked. Earl Grey for Naru, black with two sugars for Yasuhara, oolong for Lin, and green with a touch of honey for herself.

“I can take Big Boss’s to him,” he offered. “I have to talk to him about a few scheduling things anyways.”

“Okay.” Mai placed the two tea cups on a tray and passed it to him. “Be careful. He’s in a pretty bad mood today.”

“Any reason why?”

“I think he had a bad phone call? I don’t quite know. He hasn’t really left his office today.”

“Alright, I’ll make sure not to poke the bear too much. Thanks for the tea, Mai.”

“Any time,” she laughed as she made her way to the equipment room.

Yasuhara watched her walk away for a short time, lost in thought. He knew that Mai was a pretty private person, but he silently hoped that she would post quite a bit this weekend in order to keep himself occupied. Sure he could do homework or watch a show, but it always entertained him when they did.

“Is there a reason you’re just standing there with my tea?”

Yasuhara shook his head to clear it before plastering an overly wide smile on his face before addressing his superior who was standing in the doorway of his office.

“Hello, Big Boss! You have perfect timing. I was just about to bring you a cup of tea!”

Naru cocked an eyebrow. “You do realize that you don’t work today, correct?”

“Yes, but I needed to come in and talk to you about something really quick so I thought I’d save Boss the trip to your office.”

“I see.” Naru turned around and re-entered his office. Yasuhara followed suit soon after and carefully closed the door behind himself. He offered the tray and Naru took his cup and made his way to his desk. He gestured to the chair across from himself and Yasuhara was quick to sit as well.

“I’m not sure exactly how much I can work anymore.” Yasuhara took a sip of tea and found it as wonderful as always. It helped to calm some of the nerves he had been feeling while on his way over.

“Is there any particular reason?”

“As I mentioned a while ago, my grandmother’s health has been waning these past few years. She had been doing a little better lately, but then she fell this past week. She was living alone, but it sounds like my parents are going to insist that she move in with us. While my mom has been staying at home most of the time, she wants to work a part-time job to help save up for a larger house. Most of the jobs that she has found are in the afternoon and since my father works days most of the time it seems that there would be a window of time where there would be no one at home to assist my grandmother. That is unless I take a break from working here.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Do you think that you would be unable to join us for cases as well?”

“Probably for the first few months, yes. After she’s healed some and is more settled I imagine that I could join on cases again. It would just depend on my parent’s schedules and if they feel comfortable leaving her alone with my younger sister.”

Naru took a sip of tea. “Will you be looking for another part-time job to cover your academic expenses?”

Yasuhara winced. He’d been avoiding the subject ever since he had realized how impossible the task would be now that he was without any income. He would probably be able to cover tuition for the next few months, but his meager savings account wouldn’t be able to last forever. And with his parents now having to take on his grandmother, there was no way that they would be able to afford to help him outside of what they were already doing.

“Probably, though I’m not sure I’ll find one that would have the right schedule.”

“I see.”

They sat in silence for a while before Naru set down his teacup, stood from his desk, and went to one of his bookcases. He ran a hand over the books, lost in thought. After a few moments he turned around purposefully and pulled out a large stack of heavily marked up papers from his briefcase and set them on the desk.

“How good is your written English?”

“Pretty good. It probably isn’t as good as someone like yours, but I did excel in it during secondary school, and I am currently minoring in it.”

Naru nodded as he parted the stack of papers to an unmarked page. “The final draft of my next article is due to the publisher in about three months. I’ve found it difficult to devote my time to editing it. If you are interested, you could edit what is left in the next two months.”

Yasuhara gaped at Naru.

“Of course, I would pay you for your trouble. All I would need is for you to document the time that you spend on it just as you would while researching for a case.” He picked up the page and offered it to Yasuhara. “Do you think that you would be able to edit this?”

Yasuhara took the page and carefully read it. It was somewhat confusing since it was in the middle of a passage, but he was able to read it rather well. It wasn’t much more difficult than Naru’s previous book, and there weren’t too many grammatical errors that he could see, but there were a few technical words that took him a moment to understand.

“I believe so. It make take me a bit of time, but I imagine that it wouldn’t be too difficult.”

Naru took the paper back and replaced it on the top of the stack. He then carefully put the rest of the stack back on top and then replaced it in his briefcase. “I imagine that there will be quite a bit of information that will be somewhat foreign to you, but most of my research is in this briefcase. I can make copies of all the relevant information should you need to refer back to it.”

“Thank you.”

Naru paused. “You’re welcome. Though I believe that I should thank you instead. I can now focus on upcoming cases instead of wasting my time trivializing over adverbs and epithets.

“I cannot send it with you right now, but I have your address and will be able to drop it off sometime in the next few days. Is there a particular time that you would be available?”

“I should be free around this time every day.”

“Great. I will stop by tomorrow.” With a short nod Naru stood. “If you’ll excuse me.”

Without any further comment Naru left the office, briefcase in hand. Yasuhara watched after him as he left the room. He wasn’t sure exactly what had spurred his boss’ sudden act of kindness, but he certainly wasn’t going to question it too much.


	2. Chapter 2

Yasuhara did start questioning it after the third visit, though.

It wasn’t the fact that there was a third meeting. It was a given that there would be multiple meetings since there were quite a few areas that Yasuhara found that could be improved upon and, while Yasuhara was able to disseminate much of the information, there were a few parts that they had to go over to make sure that it wasn’t just the language that had tripped him up.

It might have had a little bit to do with the fact that, once they started into the material, Naru wasn’t able to remain as composed as he normally did. Yasuhara had noticed a while ago that the easiest way to get Naru talking was to ask a genuine question about the paranormal, especially on an academic level. He had used that fact to his advantage a few times, but mostly he always found it fascinating just how much Naru knew.

But, mostly, it had to do with the fact that Naru didn’t seem to want to leave this time.

Naru was normally one who didn’t like to waste time. Once he was finished with one task or another he would move forward promptly. But they had finished the section that Yasuhara had edited a long time ago. And instead of leaving right away he continued talking.

It was mostly about the paper and the challenges of studying parapsychology, but as time went by the topics began to shift around. And with each new topic Yasuhara began to lose track of time. He was pretty sure that it was getting late, but he didn’t realize just how late it was until there was a knock at his door.

After a moment, the door opened to reveal his younger sister, Nagi. “Hey. Mom wants to know if your friend is staying for dinner.”

Yasuhara looked to Naru. “She’s a pretty good cook.”

“You’re only saying that because you think that you can do better than her.”

“You cook?” Naru asked.

“Occasionally. I used to cook more during high school, but with my current schedule it’s harder.”

“He was supposed to cook tonight, but mom got too impatient,” Nagi said.

Yasuhara winced. With his mother working a part time job now dinner was supposed to be his responsibility on the days that she was working. With his grandmother arriving in a few days he would have to make sure that he was a bit more attentive to things like that.

“I would hate to impose more than I already have,” Naru said.

“It’s fine. I was just teasing the chief over here.”

Yasuhara felt his face heat up at the nickname. He wasn’t sure why it felt somewhat embarrassing for Nagi to say it in front of Naru, but, nonetheless, the feeling was there.

“No, I mean that I would not want to force her to accommodate my dietary needs.”

“He doesn’t eat meat,” Yasuhara explained.

“Oh, I see. Well I’m pretty sure mom has some tofu and would be more than happy to make something for you.”

“Thank you, but I really should be going.”

“Okay, well it was nice to meet you.”

As Nagi shut the door behind her, Naru began to gather his things together. There was an oddly heavy feeling that settled in the air and neither said a word. Yasuhara wasn’t sure what was causing it exactly, but as time passed Yasuhara realized something:

He didn’t want Naru to leave either.

“Y'know it really wouldn’t be much trouble.”

“Perhaps. But there is also the fact that I had plans to call my parents tonight. My mother gets anxious if I don’t call her at least once a week.” Naru rolled his eyes.

“I see. I’ll walk you to the door then.”

As they made their way to the front door, Yasuhara wondered why he wanted nothing more than to convince Naru to stay longer. Sure he liked spending time with his friends. But it seemed like there was something different about this. It made him feel irrational about the prospect of Naru leaving and, before he could put much thought into it he was speaking again.

“Maybe next time?”

Naru paused. “Next time?”

“Yeah, the next time we meet you could plan to stay for dinner. If you want. There’s obviously no pressure or—”

“Okay.”

Yasuhara blinked, speechless.

“Please have the next 10 pages done for next time.”

“Yeah, of course.” Yasuhara said in a slight daze. He opened the door for him. “Have a good night.”

“You too.”

Yasuhara told himself that he was only watching after Naru to make sure that no one bothered him as he made his way to the subway. But the way his sister laughed over his shoulder made him question that as well.


	3. Chapter 3

“Eggplant?”

“Yes,” Yasuhara said as he continued laying out the ingredients he had bought on his way back from his last lecture. “I thought I’d try something a bit different tonight. I hope you don’t mind.”

“My mother used to make it quite often.”

“Oh really?” Yasuhara said as he nonchalantly washed the eggplant.

He would never admit it to anyone, but he had obsessed over what to make for Naru. Of all the times he had spent working in the office he couldn’t, for the life of him, think of a single dish that he would like. So, in a fit of panic the night before, he called Lin asking what Naru’s favorite dish was.

Lin had been quite confused over the matter. For one, Yasuhara rarely called the omnioji. Secondly it was certainly not the type of phone call he would expect in the middle of the night. And, while Lin had given him the information willingly, Yasuhara knew that he should be wary of Lin’s wrath in the future.

“Yes. Gene would always ask her to make it.”

Yasuhara began cutting the eggplant into even slices. “I see.”

“We started having it just for special occasions, but eventually once in a while turned into nearly once a week. We eventually had it so often that I grew to hate it.”

Yasuhara nearly took off his own finger.

“Y-” He cleared his throat. “You hate it?”

Naru chuckled as he leaned against the counter next to Yasuhara’s workspace. “No. I rather enjoyed my mother’s eggplant parmesan. But I am curious as to why you chose this specific dish to make.”

“I was looking at vegan recipes online and this one was highly recommended.”

“I see.” Naru smirked. “That is quite the coincidence.”

“Yes it is.”

Yasuhara went back to cutting the eggplant in an attempt to ignore everything that he was feeling. The hyper-awareness of Naru’s proximity to his left arm. The break-neck speed at which his heart was racing…

He had just finished the eggplant when he heard a noise come from behind him. Whirling around, he found his grandmother grimacing as she leaned heavily on her walker. He immediately dropped what he was doing to help her.

Yasuhara felt ashamed. In his preoccupation with his guest he had completely forgotten about his grandmother in the process. Thankfully it appeared as though nothing had happened to her in the meantime, but as he helped her to the new dining table he made a note to be more attentive in the future.

“Thank you, dear.”

“Of course. Did you need something? I’m sorry if I didn’t hear you call for something earlier.”

“It’s alright, Osamu.” His grandmother gently patted his arm. “I just wanted a bit of company.”

“Okay. Would you like something to drink?”

“Tea, if it’s not too much of a bother.”

“Sure.”

“I can make it,” Naru volunteered.

“Thank you. You should be able to find everything you need in the cupboard over there.” He gestured to one of the cupboards near the stove as he returned to preparing dinner.

“I don’t believe that Osamu has told me what it is that you do, Mr. Shibuya.”

“I am a paranormal investigator.”

“And what do you do in that line of work?”

“Primarily I investigate locations where there is suspected paranormal activity. When I have time I do what I can to work on my dissertation and other academic projects.”

“Oh my. No one mentioned just how accomplished you are,” Yasuhara’s grandmother said in a tone that Yasuhara knew all too well. Sure enough, when he paused in the middle of coating the eggplant he found her looking at his boss with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“I told you that I was helping him with an academic paper.”

“I apologize. I assumed that, with your cavalier attitude that you were lying to your mother to spare her feelings. My mistake.”

Yasuhara felt like dying when she winked at him.

“Grandmother. I can assure you—”

“Oh, calm down, Osamu,” his grandmother laughed. “There’s no need to get so flustered, I’m merely teasing you.”

Yasuhara sighed and decided to ignore her in favor of finishing the preparations. At least for the moment he could use it as an excuse to not look at Naru and see how he had responded to such an insinuation.

Most everyone in their group of friends was quite understanding about all sorts of things. But this wasn’t exactly something that any of them talked about. And beyond that Yasuhara wasn’t even sure how he felt about any of it. Sure he’d equally teased most everyone at this point, but there was a vast difference between teasing and seriously considering romantic affection for any of them.

Not too much later the kettle cut the silence that hung in the air. Yasuhara could hear Naru brewing the tea, but he refused to look over as he finished up. Once Naru had brought the teapot over to his grandmother, Yasuhara placed the dish in the oven and set the timer.

“Thank you, dear,” Yasuhara’s grandmother said kindly.

“You’re welcome,” Naru said. “If you’ll excuse me I’ll be back momentarily.”

Once Naru was outside of earshot, Yasuhara came to sit across from his grandmother. She smiled apologetically and reached for his hand which he easily allowed.

“I’m sorry, dear. I assumed that by now you were confident about things like this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well when you were younger your mother told me about how you had a boyfriend and a girlfriend in the same year. As with most things I thought that it had solidified while you were in high school. I see how that was wrong of me to assume and I apologize.”

“It’s okay. Though I don’t remember ever having that happen to me. When was that?”

“Your first year of school.”

Yasuhara suppressed the urge to bury his face in his hands.

“No wonder I don’t remember something like that.”

His grandmother laughed. “Well from what Nagi has told me about your escapades—”

“Why does everyone assume that I’m some playboy?”

“Because you flirt with anything that walks,” Nagi said from the doorway.

Yasuhara nearly jumped out of his skin.

“You really have to stop doing that.”

“What? Coming home?”

“No, sneaking up on people. Imagine if you had done that to mom or grandmother here.”

“Oh don’t worry about me, dear. I think you’re the jumpy one here.” She winked at him.

“You’re incorrigible.”

“I try to be dear. I have to keep my mind sharp somehow you know.”

Nagi walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of her favorite soft drink. She took a few sips before looking around the kitchen in confusion. “Where’s your boyfriend at?”

“He’s not my—”

“I believe that he went to the restroom,” his grandmother said.

“Ah.” Nagi joined them at the table and sat beside her brother. “Well, whatever he is to you, don’t forget that I’m the founding member of my school’s boxing team and if he so much as—”

“You know, typically it’s the older brother who threatens potential suitors,” Yasuhara countered.

“Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure that we’re not really a typical family.”

“Touché.”

Naru returned a few minutes later. Nagi immediately vacated the seat and gestured for him to take her place.

“There’s no need to—”

“I have to get changed anyways. Mom doesn’t like it when we eat dinner in our school uniforms.”

She made a point to leave her bottle in front of the seat beside their grandmother. Yasuhara was willing to bet that she was trying to force Naru to choose the seat next to him. And, while he appreciated the gesture, there was a part of him that was relieved when Naru chose the seat farthest from him.

Though there was an even larger part of himself that was disappointed.


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

Dinner was awkward that evening. 

There was an odd atmosphere at the table. Naru was polite, but he wasn’t nearly as open around Yasuhara’s family as he would have hoped. To Nagi and his grandmother’s credit they had most certainly tried to make him open up and participate, but no one quite knew what to talk about so the most exciting part of the meal was when his father launched into a tirade about his co-workers.  
Afterwards his mother insisted she and Nagi do the dishes while he and Naru took care of what they needed to in his bedroom.

Thankfully Nagi kept her comments to herself about his mother’s unfortunate wording, but he dreaded the next time that he would be left alone with her. 

Once they were in his room they returned to business as usual. They had done most of what they needed to do before he had started dinner, but there was still the business of setting up their next meeting and assigning the next section. 

Naru frowned slightly as he started flipping through the whole of the article. 

“It seems that there is only enough for one more section.” 

“Oh.” Yasuhara felt as though he had been punched. “Does that mean that our next meeting will be the last?” 

If they had nothing to work on then it was safe to assume that there would be no reason for them to meet again. And, while it was understandable, it still left Yasuhara feeling at a loss. 

“Tell me,” Naru asked, ignoring Yasuhara’s question. “How much access do you have to the University’s library?” 

“I’d say just as much as any other student.” 

“Which is?”   
“Free access to all 35 of the University’s libraries.”

“Perfect.” Naru placed the third part of the article on the small table that had been their work space for each of their previous meetings. “As you know, I have attempted to learn more kanji since my return. Unfortunately, I have not made as much progress as I would have hoped for. 

“If you would like, going forward, I would like to take advantage of your knowledge of kanji and access to University’s libraries in order to more accurately study the paranormal in Japan. It would be mostly transcription.

"Of course your personal course work would take priority. If at any point in time you would need to put it on hold I would only ask that you inform me so that I might pass it along to Mai so that we can continue to make some progress. 

"I understand if you would prefer not to take this on as it would be quite tedious, but I believe that there is a wealth of knowledge to be discovered here that has so far been ignored by the paranormal research community. ”

Yasuhara stared at Naru for some time. He was beyond flummoxed at this point. He knew from first-hand experience that Naru was a charitable person. But, at this point he was going out of his way to make sure that Yasuhara was taken care of in a way that allowed him to retain his dignity. 

Sure, this was certainly a legitimate need, but most employers would have cut their employee right away. And the small percentage would have, at the most, merely held their employee’s position for a few months. Changing the position completely so that the employee would keep working was nearly unheard of. 

“I can give you some time to think it over.” Naru started to gather his things together. 

“No.” Naru quirked an eyebrow and Yasuhara rushed to continue. “No, I don’t need any time. I’d be happy to help.” 

“Then I will compile a list of what I would like for you to look for and transcribe between now and our next meeting.” 

“Sounds like a plan.” 

They began walking towards the front door. Naru was about to open the door when he paused. “I don’t believe that I said anything earlier, but I appreciated the meal today.”

“It wasn’t really any trouble. Is there something you’d like me to make next time?”

“If it would save you the trouble of calling Lin in the middle of the n—”

Yasuhara groaned. “He told you didn’t he.” 

“Not directly.” He smirked “But the walls of the office are quite thin and Mai is stubborn, especially when it comes to the well-being of those she cares about.” 

“Sorry, I just didn’t want to make something you wouldn’t eat and—”

“Curry.” 

Yasuhara blinked.

“I like curry. It doesn’t matter what type it is so long as it doesn’t have meat in it.”

“Oh, okay. Yeah I can definitely make that next time.” 

“Then I look forward to next time,” Naru said with a slight smile. “Have a good night, Yasuhara.” 

“Good night.” 

Yasuhara stood rooted in his spot as the door closed.

It wasn’t as though he’d never seen Naru smile before. But there was something about the way he smiled this time that made Yasuhara’s breath catch. And while almost everything seemed uncertain lately there was one fact that he knew for certain:  
He couldn’t wait until next time.


	5. Chapter 5

Everyone at his house was convinced that Yasuhara was going on a date tonight. 

Nagi sent him back to his room at least three times to change. His mother reflected on Naru’s accomplishments. His grandmother smiled knowingly. Worst of all, though, was his father. The poor man didn’t know what to do with the implications so he merely said a gruff ‘be safe’ as Yasuhara walked out the door. 

And while Yasuhara appreciated the support, he knew that it wasn’t going to be anything as interesting as they were making it out to be. 

Last time, after they had finished going over the final part of Naru’s article, he had told Yasuhara that he would need a bit more time to put together the first list of texts that he would need transcribed. Since he would also need time to finish editing the paper as a whole as well, Naru said that he would call later to set up their next meeting.

A few agonizing weeks went by without Yasuhara hearing anything from Naru. He knew that the work would take time, but with nothing beside his classwork and family to keep him occupied it made him antsy. At one point he even went so far as to try to contact Mai to find out what was going on. 

She never answered her phone, though.

A few days later Yasuhara finally heard word from Naru. Apparently, since their previous meeting, the group had gone on a particularly trying case. He didn’t give many details, but it seemed as though it had been hard on everyone involved.

During the phone call Naru suggested that they go out to a restaurant in the Shibuya district instead of meeting at Yasuhara’s place. He wanted to question as to why there had been a sudden change in location, but Naru seemed upset so Yasuhara just took down restaurant’s address and left it at that.

He had tried to explain the context of the invitation to his family, but they couldn’t quite grasp why it made Yasuhara nervous and not excited. 

The restaurant, as it turned out, was a quite small. Yasuhara could recall walking past it on multiple occasions going to and from the office, but he had never gone in. When he went inside he was surprised by how busy it was. At first he thought that it might be difficult to find Naru in the crowd, but it was easy to spot him. 

Especially with a hot pink cast on his leg. 

“Thank you for coming,” Naru said as Yasuhara took the seat across from him. “Lin wouldn’t let me leave the Shibuya district. I tried to tell him that there are plenty of taxis to take, but he was convinced that something would have happened if I tried.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m entertaining him for now, but I imagine that I’ll be tired of that by the time our next meeting rolls around.” 

Yasuhara laughed. “What happened?” 

“An idiotic client. I told the owner of the house multiple times that it wasn’t safe for them to be there, but they refused to leave. If the client would have just listened, then no one would have been put at risk. But, instead, the ghost’s activity escalated and I was forced to intervene. ”

“That’s unfortunate. Was anyone else hurt?” 

“Thankfully, no. Though according to the doctor I’m not supposed to go on any cases for at least eight weeks,” Naru huffed as he crossed his arms.

Yasuhara was sure that it was done mostly in frustration, but from the way he did it… It seemed like Naru was pouting. He suppressed the urge to laugh at the uncharacteristically candid Naru. He didn’t want Naru to stop, and, not that he would admit it, he found it endearing.

And maybe a little bit cute. 

“What can I get you today?” The waitress asked as she set down a pot of tea and two cups. 

“Can we have a few more moments?” Yasuhara asked. 

“Of course. Will this be together or separate?” 

“Sep—”

“Together,” Naru interrupted. “I’ll take the check when we’re finished.” 

“Okay. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” 

Yasuhara looked at Naru in confusion. “You don’t have to. I can pay for myself.” 

“I was the one who invited you to go out. I don’t know how these type of customs work in Japan, but where I’m from the initiator is the one who generally pays.” 

Yasuhara’s heart skipped a beat.

“Granted I believe that I have heard of people ‘Going Dutch’, but with how often you’ve cooked for me it seemed only appropriate that I treat you this time.” 

“Wait.” Yasuhara put up his hands. “Then is this a date or something?”

Naru raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that what the term ‘go out’ means? I apologize if I hadn’t made my intentions clear. When I called I had just taken a strong pain medication. If you’re uncomfortable with the prospect then—”

“No!” 

Half of the restaurant turned to stare. Yasuhara sheepishly ducked his head. At that moment the waitress returned. 

“I’ll take the,” Naru paused, “Nasu dengaku. Would you like to order anything or…?” 

“I’ll take what he’s getting,” Yasuhara said. He tried his best not to rudely shove the menu back into the waitress’ hands. But, more than anything, he wanted her to leave as soon as possible. 

Once the waitress was gone, Yasuhara opened and closed his mouth a few times. He didn’t exactly know what he should say. If he would have known the full context of this… date, then would have had a chance to rehearse how to act. But, without that he was left grasping for what to say. 

“It's… It’s not that it makes me uncomfortable. I just wasn’t expecting it is all.” 

Naru frowned. “I hate to think that my lapse in communication has unintentionally mislead you.” 

“It’s okay. I guess I just didn’t realize that you felt the same way about me as I felt about you?” 

“I see. I apologizing for not making my intentions clear. I was operating on the advice of others to 'be subtle’ and apparently I was too subtle.” 

“It’s alright.” Yasuhara paused. “Who gave you that advice?” 

“Lin.” 

Yasuhara groaned. “Does that mean that he know…?” 

“Not directly. Though I imagine that he’s intelligent enough to have inferenced it.”

“Does anyone else…?” 

“As far as I know, no. Though I would not be surprised if Mai had figured it out. While I’ve always believed that her intuition is an important asset on cases, it can be quite troublesome elsewhere.” 

“You’re not wrong,” Yasuhara said as he shook his head. At this point everyone had dealt with Mai’s uncanny ability to know when someone was dealing with something. And, with that, came with the ability to make the person admit to what was wrong without much prodding on her part. 

“I feel as though I should say this for transparency’s sake: I enjoy your company and would like to spend more time in it.” 

“I-I wouldn’t mind that.”

“Good. That makes me happy.” 

The waitress arrived a few moments later with their food. They ate in relatively comfortable silence, aside from the giddy nervousness that had settled in Yasuhara’s stomach. The silence lasted for a short time before something came to mind that he felt the need to voice. 

“Is that the reason why you offered me the change in work?” 

Naru set his fork down. 

“Perhaps on some level, yes, but it did not occur to me until our third meeting that I wanted to spend more time with you than was strictly necessary for my paper. I will admit that the idea for the transcriptions came after that day, but it was something that I wanted equally on an academic and emotional level. Perhaps it is a selfish endeavor, but these feelings are quite selfish in nature so it’s hard to differentiate whether that’s acceptable or not .”

“That’s okay. I have to admit that I was relieved when you told me it wasn’t going to be the last thing we worked on together.”

“I’m glad that the feeling is mutual.” 

Yasuhara laughed. “Though, for future reference, you don’t have to make up a whole new project to spend time with me. You have my number. You can just call or text me whenever to figure out a time to hang out.”

Naru blinked. 

“Oh, god, don’t tell me that didn’t occur to you.” 

Naru looked away. “It occurred to me. But it seemed to be something you were uncertain about so I did not want to overstep my bounds.” 

“And yet you were planning to take me on a date without calling it a date.” Yasuhara smirked. 

“I told you I—”

“I’m teasing you,” Yasuhara laughed as Naru glared at him. 

“I was going to order us dessert, but I don’t know if I can’t tell if I’m in the mood any more…” 

Yasuhara shrugged. “I’m impartial when it comes to desserts so you’ll have to try another tactic if you want to keep me from teasing you. ”

“Oh?” Naru raised an eyebrow. Yasuhara felt a shiver go down his spine as he realized the potential implications with his words. Naru leaned forward as his lips fell into a smirk. “And just what tactic did you have in mind?”

“W-wait that’s n-not—”

Naru chuckled as he leaned back, easing the tension slightly. “Don’t worry. I would never leverage something like that against you.” 

Yasuhara let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. His heart rate started to slow some and he tried his best to calm down. He knew that Naru had been teasing, but it was relieving to hear nonetheless. 

As they were finishing up Yasuhara spoke up, “Should we tell anyone?”

Naru hummed. “Perhaps we should wait a little while. I don’t know about you, but I would prefer to put off the teasing from the others for a little longer.”

“That sounds fine to me.” 

Yasuhara was relieved. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t want them to know at all, and, thankfully, most everyone seemed as though they’d be supportive, even. But, for now he was content with where they were now. He was sure that they would need to iron out details later, but he decided to follow Naru’s lead and enjoy the time that they had together now.

They could figure out the details another time.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This was written as a part of the Ghost Hunt Exchange from this past April! If you want to see a bunch of awesome stuff from this year and years past go over to GhostHuntHQ over on Tumblr! (Also you're more than welcome to come yell at me about Ghost Hunt stuff over on tumblr at samantha-girlscout!)  
Please let me know what you thought!


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